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Pros and Cons of Open Source CMS

Pros and Cons of Open Source CMS

Content management systems are becoming more necessary to establish a web presence and extend audience engagement through portals that consumers prefer. It's important for business leaders to pick the best CMS for their needs, but it can be difficult knowing where to start. Let's take a look at the pros and cons of open source CMS and why these can be beneficial to your website.

Pro: Easy to Use and Maintain

Open source CMS are becoming easier for people of all skill levels to use and maintain. Coding websites from scratch is difficult and expensive, often requiring specialists with the skills necessary to code functions. Organizations can use open source CMS systems like Drupal for free and gain access to thousands of themes. It's easy for users to install and customize their sites to their needs, as well as maintain them. HTML Goodies contributor Rob Gravelle noted that open source CMSs have teams of developers focusing on maintaining the system and providing necessary updates. This allows your internal teams to concentrate more on other mission-critical tasks without worrying about CMS support.

A CMS should make it easy to quickly draw up pages.

Con: Not All CMS Need the Same Technical Expertise

While CMS are becoming more available for a wider variety of users, some are created with specific audiences in mind. It's important for newbies and technical professionals alike to look closely at the CMS options and understand what they entail. For example, Drupal is best used for complex, advanced and versatile sites. An infographic by Make A Website Hub noted that sites that require complex data organization, community platform sites with multiple users and online stores are going to benefit the most from Drupal. Drupal scales with the business and aims to serve the world's busiest websites where failure is not an option.

Drupal may require the most technical expertise, but it's also capable of producing the most advanced sites. It's also becoming easier to use as the software advances. It's extremely versatile, supports multi-site and improves website speed and performance. If Drupal sounds like the solution for you, but you can't support it with internal resources, team up with a provider like Paramount Software Solutions to handle your Drupal site configurations and maintenance.

"Drupal CMS integrates with a wide ecosystem of business applications."

Pro: Deep Visibility and Integration

Within any site, it's important for editors to easily monitor their changes and trace back adjustments. Drupal allows users to edit content while providing a history of who performed what action and when, TechTarget contributor Mary E. Shacklett stated. For organizations with multiple editors, these features will be essential to maintaining a detailed record of content changes to reduce redundancies and keep everyone on the same page. Users can also establish custom editorial workflows and view their content's stage at any time. This deep visibility will be critical to constantly improving the site and leveraging Drupal capabilities effectively.

Drupal CMS can also integrate with a wide ecosystem of business applications, offering a means of leveraging features from these resources. The system might use email marketing and customer relationship management capabilities to better engage with clients, for example. Web content can be localized to the user's location, targeting specific audiences, and ensuring they get a seamless digital experience.

Open source CMS like Drupal receive constant updates. Drupal is updated every 30 days, more often than its competitors. This ensures that businesses are receiving the support they require. While Drupal does require more technical expertise, it brings a number of major benefits. Teaming up with a partner like Paramount Software Solutions ensures that you can use Drupal effectively for your site. To learn more about our Drupal expertise, contact us today.